Is there anything specific to think about when planning a long car journey (12 hours with an overnight stop) with a 2-month old? I guess one of the issues is whether one of the adults stays in the back with the baby, or whether both being up front is ok? We would make sure we stop regularly of course.

We learned pretty quickly to just never leave unless we knew she was about to fall asleep. It ultimately meant less travel for us, but after a couple years they are pretty easy to travel with.
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Kai QingJan 19 at 23:59

5 Answers
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We have taken several road trips that each were in the range of 700 to 1500 kilometers (per direction). Things that were helpful to us include:

Have enough baby necessities on board. Think of diapers, wipes, baby food, and so on. Whatever is age-appropriate, just make absolutely sure you don't run out.

Have a high-quality car-seat for the baby. This is the single most important thing for the safety and comfort of your baby.

Ensure the long-duration comfort of the parents. They are going to have it the hardest, not the baby. This includes sitting in front if that's the most comfortable (it usually is, in most cars), adjusting the seat properly, having enough food and drink for yourselves, taking a leg-stretching break (run 5 laps around your parked car) at least every 2 hours, and so on.

I would not recommend that one parent sits in the back, unless the baby is very very fussy. For very long drives, it can be assumed that one person cannot drive the whole distance. This means that the other parent must save enough energy to take his or her share of the drive. But if you've spent the whole time until then caring for the baby, then you're as exhausted as the driver. You would then need a stop of several hours.

The safer recommendation is to deliberately put you (and especially the driver) in a position where you can't address every little whim and whine of the baby. If it's worth making a rest stop for, then do that. If it isn't, then carry on -- you've got a long road ahead and you won't get there if you stop every fifteen minutes.

Make sure that the essentials are reasonably within reach from the co-pilot's seat. If you're lucky, the co-pilot can even reach around the back and hand baby the toy that she just threw onto the backseat, out of baby's reach. Make sure the rest of the car is safely packed, of course.

Point taken about the comfort of the parents (us)!
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tdcJan 12 '12 at 13:48

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In my experience, the baby (normally) won't require continuous full attention from the parent sitting on the back seat, so (s)he can rest, or even have a short nap every now and then. YMMV.
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Péter TörökJan 12 '12 at 14:14

Seems along time ago now, but I can report that the journey was a success! She tended to sleep for two hours at a time, at which point we were quite happy to have a rest stop to feed/change her, and then get back on the road for another 2 hours. There were only a couple of journeys of more than 4 hours which were a bit harder but still ok. The biggest issue was that she would wake every time we went through a Péage (this was France)! We both sat in the front - there was too much luggage in the back.
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tdcMar 6 '13 at 8:24

I'd always recommend having an entire extra outfit or two inside the car, that's easily accessible (rather than in bags/in the trunk), and some spare plastic grocery bags. Spit ups/throw ups happen and 1) Can cover a baby's outfit and 2) Can smell if you don't seal them in a bag for the trip. If you don't have a plastic bag, throw the dirties in the trunk!
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CreationEdgeJan 11 at 5:31

We did a long car journey (4 days with overnight stops, then 3 days on the way back) with our firstborn when she was 5 months old. One of us sat at the back to entertain her, equipped with the usual army of toys, colourful pictures, baby food etc. etc.

It went fairly well, she had no big problems. Whenever she wanted to move more than it was possible inside her safety seat, or was breastfeeding time, we stopped for a break. (She already started to eat some solid food at that time, but was still being breast fed a couple of times a day.) For a 2 months old, I guess this would cause even less trouble.

One of our friends did a similar journey at that summer, with a somewhat bigger baby. They also shared the back seat with the baby. They travelled mostly during the night, so their baby slept through most of the travel.

+1 We did a 1400km trip with a 3 month old, and he slept nearly the entire trip except for feedings and diapers, at which time it was a nice time for a rest anyway. Remarkably, when we arrived in the evening, he slept through the night as well! Travel sleep doesn't count as actual sleep, apparently.
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Torben Gundtofte-BruunJan 12 '12 at 14:18

A 2 month old usually needs constant care and stimuli. Unless you have an angel, who only cries for food and a diaper change, which for a 2 month old is about every hour. In Los Angeles, my place/house to place/house drive is usually 1 hour apart, so my babies had to get used to that very quickly on their own.

That said, have at least one adult in the back seat with the baby to provide stimuli and feeding. Plan out your tools for stimuli: iPad, android, singing, music, story telling, etc. Rotate adults as needed. When you stop you can also change the baby. Bear with the crying. Be mindful of your baby as only you know what is hurting your baby.

"A 2 month old usually needs constant care and stimuli": That's a somewhat questionable statement and certainly doesn't jive with my personal experience. In fact I would consider it potentially detrimental to provide a 2 month old with constant stimulus.
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HilmarDec 26 '13 at 17:36

They need more sleep than they do stimulus, but welcome to the community and thanks for your contribution. The idea of making sure there is an adult to keep an eye on the baby and be sure the reason for crying isn't a dirty diaper or hunger is good.
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balanced mamaDec 28 '13 at 17:43